Monday, February 6, 2012

Homemade Glass Cleaner

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of breathing in toxic fumes and wearing rubber gloves when I clean. After realizing how many toxic chemicals are in commercial cleaning products, I'm on a mission to make my own. I've been amazed at how simple it is.

Homemade glass cleaner is the first homemade cleaning product I've tackled and I couldn't be happier with it. I looked at A LOT of glass cleaner recipes online until I found this winner at crunchybetty.com. I'm glad I chose it because it works just as great as Crunchy Betty claims it does. I think her exact words were, "It makes your mirrors look like they were just born."


Homemade Glass Cleaner
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 Tbsp corn starch
2 cups distilled, filtered, or boiled water

I decided to use distilled water instead of tap water because our water is really hard. Hard water and cleaning just aren't a good combination. (I can't wait for the day I can get a water softener!) Combine everything in a spray bottle and shake well. Also shake before using because the cornstarch will settle to the bottom.


Now let's talk money. How much did it cost me to make up this whole bottle of glass cleaner?

$0.12 Rubbing Alcohol
$0.04 Vinegar
$0.12 Distilled Water
$0.17 Corn Starch
$0.45 Grand Total

Beat that, Windex!

Do you have any glass cleaning tips or a favorite natural glass cleaner recipe to share?


This post is linked to: Penny Pinching Party, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Frugal Friday


14 comments:

  1. Hmmm... I might have to try this! Thanks.

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  2. Wow--corn starch. I'm going to have to try it!

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  3. Okay, I think I will totally do this one. Believe me, if you could see my windows now, you'd probably be pushing a bottle on me. Also, I love it when other people do the research for me. Job well done!

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  4. Hmm, cornstarch - never would have thought to use that! I'm going to have to try this! Currently, I just us my floor cleaner, which doubles as my all-purpose cleaner, which is water, vinegar, and alcohol, but I feel like since it uses equal amounts of the 3 items, it's overkill for the windows. This looks like a much more practical recipe. Thanks!

    P.S. If you haven't noticed yet, I LOVE your site - we're like 2 peas in a blogger-pod ;-)

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  5. I wonder why have to add so many things in it !! I just add 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar to a bottle of water !! Done !!

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    Replies
    1. Mrs. Lee, I'll have to try your recipe next time and see how it compares. I'm all for simplifying. Thanks!

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    2. So I tried a little vinegar in a bottle of water and it left streaks on my mirrors. Next time I make up a batch of glass cleaner, I'll try the recipe above with vinegar, water, and alcohol. I'll leave out the corn starch and see how it compares.

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  6. Hmm... Wonder what the cornstarch does.

    The one I use is 1/2 cup ammonia, 2 cups rubbing alcohol, 1 teaspoon Dawn
    & enough water to fill a 1 gallon container. I make all of my cleaning supplies by the gallon in re-purposed vinegar jugs so that I don't have to make them as often. That is especially handy with my foaming hand soap. lol

    I'm going to try your version when my spray bottle is empty & see what the difference is with the cornstarch added.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Landon, I think the cornstarch might add some scrubbing power but I'm not sure. That's a great idea to make a gallon at a time. I'd love to hear how this recipe compares to your usual recipe. Thanks for your comments!

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  7. I just came upon your blog :-) and I love it, I love your recipes for hard water as we have hard water too. I also just started my own blog last week, check it out if you get a chance. Www.countrylivinfrugalgrl.blogspot. thx

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  8. I've been making my own glass cleaner for a couple of years now and use it also for countertops, etc. It's almost the same recipe. I use 1 cup water, 1 cup alcohol and 1 tablespoon vinegar. It works great!!

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  9. I use ionized acidic water from my water ionizer. It's all natural, non-toxic and disinfects on contact so it can be used in place of Windex, 409 and Lysol type cleaners. No mixing, no vinegar odors, just low pH water!

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  10. I just use 1 part vinegar, 4 parts water and just a little squirt dish soap. I don't really measure. works great for me.

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  11. I've used vinegar and water all my life and I live in a hard water area, and use newspaper to take off excess water and to polish the windows. Just scrunch up a sheet of newspaper and use as you would a cloth. I live in the UK so don't know if our newspapers are made from different paper, but if that doesn't work a cloth will do

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